3 Considerations for School Systems When Building Their Cybersecurity Strategy

Schools educate our nation's future so school administrators must navigate numerous challenges outside their control. With a reported 67 million malware attacks against education institutions during a typical 30-day stretch, one major challenge is that K-12 institutions easy targets for cybersecurity attacks. These attacks have risen since the Covid-19 pandemic forced remote learning, and a new form of highly evasive adaptive threats (HEAT) using multi-vector attacks has arisen as a primary source of these offenses. Although most students are back inthe classroom, the cyber attackers aren’t slowing down their attempts to infiltrate district networks. In September 2022, in a joint statement, the FBI, CISA, and MS-ISAC warned that cyberattacks against school districts would continue to rise. The statement continued, "School districts with limited cybersecurity capabilities and constrained resources are often the most vulnerable; however, the opportunistic targeting often seen with cyber criminals can still put school districts with robust cybersecurity programs at risk."In this ICIT briefing, a panel of experts will discuss examples of recent attacks, opportunities to decrease vulnerability, and developing an action plan to maximize the district's resources.